Montage
by anonymous-lemonade
Summary: Montage is a technique in editing in which a series of short shots are strung into a sequence to condense space, time, and information; the juxtaposition of several shots to form a single image or a bigger picture.  *Collection of one-shots*
1. Chapter 1

The television set sputtered and groaned on just as the Capitol's symbol fluttered onto the screen and the gleaming smile of Caesar Flickerman followed in suit. It was day five of the 74th annual Hunger Games and Gale couldn't have been more frustrated with the games than he was this year as he glared at the light that illuminated from the picture box as his sister climbed up onto his lap.

"Gale?"

Looking down at a worried face, Gale muttered, "Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

Gale wanted so badly to say that he was too but he had to be strong for her. For all of them. As he looked around the cramped little room that he called home, Gale couldn't help but feel his insides freeze up. The thought that anyone of his siblings could have gotten chosen at the reaping brought hot stinging tears to his eyes. He covered it with a yawn.

"Yeah..." he finally answered Posy, "I know, kiddo."

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><p>The televised kiss was all it took to send Gale over the edge. He didn't- <em>couldn't! <em>- stick around to watched the rest, feeling bile creep up at the back of his throat. She didn't even kiss him on the lips. It was passionless. It was chaste. It barely meant anything.

And yet...

Gale felt his legs fly over the dirt road and before he knew it, he was on the outskirts of town. Slipping under the broken part of the fence, Gale didn't even watch where he was going, just that he wanted to be as far away as possible from the offensive image. It burned its way into his mind and took root in the front most part of his thoughts to the point where he found himself hoarse from screaming into the night sky. To the point where, as he collapsed onto the earth, he cried out her name and no one was around to hear the anguish.

* * *

><p>When she went over to his house, Hazel said that he left about an hour ago and that she was worried about him. Madge knew where to find him though. He would most likely be just over the ridge where you couldn't see him if you were standing next to the fence. She took a deep breath, a look of determination etched into her vibrant blue eyes, before slipping under the fence and onto the bed of soft yellow grass.<p>

She will always remember that first time she followed Katniss and Gale across the fence, making absolutely sure that they didn't see her, but they wouldn't have noticed anyway. They were in their own world; a world no one could penetrate even if they tried.

Madge finds him sprawled underneath the moon and couldn't mask her gasp as it escapes her lips. He was so tragically beautiful, sleeping with tears streaking his bronze cheeks. A sad smile graced Madge's porcelain face as she could see the lines on his forehead scrunch up, as if a scowl was a permanent feature of his that didn't fade even in sleep.

She knelt down next to him and was happy that the summer night was warm enough that she wouldn't need a blanket if she ended up staying here for more than an hour or so. She only wanted to check up on him anyway. After what she saw on TV, she was sure he would be upset.

Reaching over to try smoothing out the worry lines, Madge attempted to not wake him but Gale was a light sleeper. He grunted and moaned before slowly opening one sleepy eye.

"Katniss...?"

Madge didn't know what to say at first. She looked nothing like Katniss but Gale's voice felt so broken that she could help but nod.

He smiled back at her, as he never did before, murmuring, "Katniss... I'm so glad you're home."

Madge stifled a sob that was rising in the back of her throat and calmed her voice before saying, "Me too."

"Katniss?"

"Yes, Gale?"

"I love you..."

Madge's heart wrenched against her chest and she could hardly breathe. How many times had she dreamed of those words coming from his lips? How many days did she watch him disappear beyond the trees with the one he loved longing to be her but not ever daring to take his happiness from him? How many night did she wake up from a nightmare drenched in cold sweat and reached out for him only to grasp cold sheets?

Now, those words, spoken to her but not meant for her, hung in the air.

"I know... I love you, too."

But her confession fell on deaf ears as he was long gone; off in dream land where he was free with the one he truly longed for: a girl with dark hair and olive skin who was so far away from home.


	2. Dream Sequence

**AN**: Okay... so this one shot get a bit steamy... a little bit citrusy... a little sexy. ;D Nothing too graphic or explicit... gotta think about the kids. Sexual innuendos aplenty so _**YE BE WARNED**_!

* * *

><p><strong>DREAM SEQUENCE<strong>: a technique used in storytelling to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flash-forward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element.

.

.

_Piercing gray eyes paralyze me._

_His fingertips graze the sides of my arm. _

_His breath, hot and needy, against my cheeks._

_His body press against the full length of mine. _

_Skin on skin. _

_He whispers into my ear the devastating things he wants to do to me _

_and I shiver in anticipation. _

_A possessive growl rumbles in his chest as his lips descend upon mine. _

_His hungry kisses devour my sighs as I try to fight down the urge to flee. _

_His kisses tasted like the pomegranate of Hades' kingdom. _

_And I, _

_Persephone, _

_too weak to not partake in the feast of lips. _

* * *

><p>Madge gasped awake and couldn't run into the shower fast enough. She turned on the water at full blast and stood there, fully clothed, under the onslaught of cold water until her skin stop humming.<p>

* * *

><p><em>He usually dreamt of Katniss. Her braid swishing back and forth as they run in an open field, trees lining the sides of a forest and purple mountains in the distance. Two small children with Seam colored skin and dark hair would be playing in the creek, catching frogs. The sunlight would normally hit their skin just so and the water droplets would look like diamonds. <em>

_Peace. _

_But not tonight. Tonight he dreamt of _her_. Long, blonde hair tousled in the wind. Skin the color of fresh milk. Her sky blue eyes shine bright... against the backdrop of fire and bedlum. Burning buildings and crumbling walls littered the debris ridden streets. The smell of soot, metal, charred flesh, and something sweet stung his nose._

_And he stood there, his hands heavy with weapons (one held a long sword and the other two grenades). Blood stained the blade but he couldn't bring himself to feel guilty. Instead, he felt his chest fill with pride. _

_The faint scent of fresh strawberries cut through the air, calling to him. Perched at the top of a tall tower, that over looked the carnage, was her beautiful smile. She was radiant. She was the sun that burned bright against the fire and destruction that raged around him. _

_War is upon him and she was his patron goddess: Chaos. _

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><p>Gale's eyes flew open, his heart thumped loudly against his chest. He blinked once, then twice. The moon greeted him but all was silent, save for himself and the wild pounding of his heart.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**AN**: Thank you all so much for your reviews! I really appreciate them and, if you could, please continue to support me by reviewing it would mean the world to me. There will probably be more Dream Sequences in future one shots... but for now... back to normal story format. Thank you, once again. Enjoy.

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><p>It was dwindling down to the final eight. Gale braced himself for the inevitable onslaught of Capitol officials and news casters flocking back to District 12. Granted, he was thrilled -elated, even- that Katniss was still alive, he knew exactly what he was going to say to them if he got asked to comment on her success in the Games thus-far: a few nicely chosen explicative and maybe even a nice venomous, treasonous jab at the Capitol.<p>

He voiced this one night over dinner which earned him a resounding slap across the face from his own mother.

She hissed that he was a fool as she got up to double check if the windows where tightly shut. Hazelle glared at Gale as she rounded back at him, scaring his other siblings, who sat frozen in their chairs. The candles lit around the small room flickered against her weary face, accenting the worry lines on her forehead.

"If you get arrested, _who_ is going to look after them? Huh? Did you even think about them?"

Rory, Vick, and Posy looked up at him questioningly, as if not really understanding what Gale did wrong but are eager to find out so that they won't make the same mistake.

Hazelle walked straight up to her oldest son, noticing his cheek turning slightly red, before reaching out her hands to cup Gale's face. He flinched but only slightly. A pained expression replaced her anger and, finally, not being able to hold it in any longer, allows herself to silently cry. She leans her forehead on Gale's, which was only possible because he was sitting down, and tried to get her breathing under control.

But she falls apart again when she felt three more pairs of arms warp around the two oldest members of the Hawthorne family.

They stay there, clutched to each other, for a long time.

* * *

><p>The knocking on her back door brought Madge's hand to still over the ivory keys of the piano, ceasing the music. It was still early, her father wasn't even up yet, so she will have to be the one to get it.<p>

Then remembering it was Sunday, Madge quickened her pace, knowing that _he_ wouldn't want to be kept waiting.

When she reached the backdoor, she wiped her palms on her skirt before she tucked her long, golden bangs behind her ear. Then she untucked it again out of nerves. She took a quick deep breath before she unlatched the door and turned the knob.

The scowl she was expecting to see was not there.

Instead a woman with eggplant purple hair and shimmering gold tattoos on her face nearly shoved a microphone in Madge's face before asking in shrill voice, "Are you Madge Undersee, Katniss Everdeen's friend?"

Madge's shoulders began to hunch forward in a protective gesture before shyly nodded.

The woman smile grew sly at Madge's meek demeanor and tried to push pass her to get into the house."Oh good! We have a few questions we would like to ask you about your dear friend."

Madge's eyebrows knit together at the woman's rudeness but instead asked, "Why did you use the backdoor and not the front?"

The woman's eyes gleamed as if she spotted something she was looking for, "Why not? A door is a door. Are there secrets you hide in your kitchen? Did Katniss use to cook for you in here or something? Was she your personal maid?"

A near blinding explosion of anger shot through Madge like a lightning bolt. The mayor's daughter was thoroughly offended for her friend that she had to calm herself down before she said anything that could reflect badly on her family or, _worse_, the district. In her most diplomatic tone, Madge said firmly, "She was _not_ my maid _or_ cook. And if you would excuse me, ma'am, right now is not a good time for interviews. My mother and father are still asleep. Perhaps if you could come by another time when it is more continent, I will be happy to answer any questions you have."

The purple haired woman looked at Madge as if she had just asked her to skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next month but soon obliged. But she didn't leave without loudly whispering to her camera man, "She didn't deny there are secrets in that kitchen. We might be able to do something with that... maybe something like... 'the Mayor's daughter's torrid affair with-'"

Madge slammed the door so hard, she was sure it woke up both her parents, but she didn't care. She was so furious that when another knock came on the door, she was grinding her teeth before she threw the door open and spat out a hoarse whisper, "What?"

Gale's expression of shock quickly turned to annoyance as he stood there with a small pail of strawberries. "Well, if you didn't want any more, I'll make sure not to come by next week-"

"No! I'm-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean you..." Madge's featured completely transformed to one of shame and hurt. _'Just my luck.'_

Gale shifted his weight to his other foot before musing to himself, '_I don't think I have ever seen her so wound up._' But he shouldn't have been that surprised since the two aren't exactly friends. She could actually have a rich girl temper under that quiet, shyness. "Did... something happen?"

Madge twisted her fingers nervously before she said, "It's nothing. The reporters from the Capitol are here and their presence-"

"They're here already?" Gale said, clearly shocked that the Capitol doesn't like to waste time getting the inside scoop from back home. He cursed under his breath.

"Yeah." Madge nods sadly and then reaches in the cabinet for her "secret purse" and pulls out the money for the pail of strawberries. She hands him the money but he grabs her hand in his before she could pull back. His grasp didn't hurt but he placed enough force to make sure she can't pull away. Her wide blue eyes blink up at him questioningly as her heart begins to beat furiously.

"What did they ask you?" Gale asked, his voice was laced with intensity a even a hint of curiosity.

Madge's anger started to slowly return, remembering what the reporter implied about Katniss, but she closed her eyes and began to count. Calming herself before opening her eyes again and gently pulling her hand from his, Madge relieves him of the strawberries before saying, "Nothing worth repeating."

She looked down at the mound of fresh fruit and a small smile began to grace her face. At least, she had this.

"Well, if they bother you again..."

Madge incredulously looked up, wondering what he would actually offer her to do if they really do grate at her nerves again. The girl shook her head, "I'm fine, Gale. Thank you..."

The back door of the mayor's house silently closed behind the young girl's weary form.


End file.
